Let me just skip the details of where all i went and just focus on what all i learnt....
I went to St Louis....its a city which lies btw 2 states: Illinois and Missouri....my mama lives on the Illinois side. Its full of cornfields and grassland..completely different from the hilly areas of Atlanta...but my mama's apartment has a lake with fountains...so its kind of scenic right outside their balcony...However my attention was spent more towards looking at my cute cousin, Yash..=D He made me realise a lot of things...about motherhood, about family life and about raising kids...I know it all sounds weird, but honestly, every woman's life has to end up with family one day or the other..it's just how early we step into that phase and how we take that decision that matters....
Motherhood is a natural art for women...as girls we start by being mothers to our dolls, then we become mothers to our siblings, and soon we treat even our best friends like our children.(trust me, as hostelites we REALLY need it!!!) Now, as adults motherhood becomes different in the way that you do everything from scratch and one also has to balance the other responsibilities of life along with the kids...and that is where the act of juggling comes in handy...what we give the most importance to is what makes the difference..
My cuz, sticks to my athai like glue...i don't blame him...he only sees her for most of the time and hence feels secure only with her..and since its only the 3 of them all the time at home...he takes a lot of time to get used to strangers (incl. me) and when given a preference he would rather stay with my athai than with anyone else...
This is a bit of a problem...my athai does not have any time for anything else besides him...even cooking becomes compromised when he simply refuses to get off her hips even for a couple of minutes!!!! Her career path also gets affected cos its going to be a bit difficult for her to get back into the job market after such a long hiatus....
My mama also has to compromise a lot....even for the 2 day trip to Chicago, most of our luggage was stuff for Yash.....thank goodness he slept off during the A R Rahman concert or else one of them would have had to take turns minding him outside the concert hall...(though both of them didn't enjoy the concert as much as I did..=D ) Mama also gets to spend very little time with Yash due to his work hours...his duty every night after he comes back from work is to put him to sleep, and then he goes off to work before Yash wakes up...
The more I see, the more i fear, that soon my future may also end up like that.....=S...
My chithi's life on the other hand seems a bit better...she is able to balance her work and family. She has flexible hours and on certain days she is allowed to work from home...and she trained the kids to stay at day care or at the baby sitters' since they were babies...but that does not mean that she is detached from them...she is more attached to her kids than i am attached to my housewife mom...=D
Lifestyle wise, living in a foreign country like US or S'pore is best...the experience and luxuries are unmatched in India..however, seeing the kids, I fear that the next generation may lose their unique culture and language.It does depend on how much it is emphasized at home...S'pore in that case is a better option cos the society encourages the growth of our own culture....but US is different...There are tamil sangams and all that but kids, are more influenced by externalities that they refuse to speak their mother tongue even at home....or they fear being wrong in pronunciation and stop trying altogether....Its sad to think that our language may die off with us....=(
On the whole, I feel US is a good place to grow up, and to study...but losing one's roots..is a bit of a price to pay to get such a good lifestyle...
But its not all that easy to come and settle down here...everyone has their own problems...its how much we are willing to face them and overcome them to get what we want....
Keep watching this space for more of my views and adventures and on FB for all the pics...
Cheers!
HMMM..HMMM!!!
ReplyDeleteWell..for one..i lol-ed the moment i saw the word motherhood. I knew it was coming.
Well, taking on much responsibility as adults do seem tough at this point in time. But i am sure we'll be able to handle these things well. And the art of handling a family, or any responsibility for that matter, is mostly depended on how we ourselves have grown up. I would certainly see myself being similar to my mom for that instance. But oh well...It's a little too early to think.
:)
HAHAHAH....knew you were gonna say that...
ReplyDeletewell, honestly...its not early thinking that our moms had us at the age we are at right now.....
See...all of us want our kids to have the good experiences that we too had as kids...which may or may not be similar to what the kids may get at that point in time...so thinking abt it right now is no matter...helps to plan early..=D